MovieChat Forums > Meet Me in St. Louis Discussion > Costume trivia

Costume trivia

posted 18 years ago by laxlon
4 replies | jump to latest

Years after he directed "Meet Me in St. Louis", Vincent Minnelli directed "Gigi", both taking place in the early 1900s.

The dress worn by Mary Astor when she went to the fair in "Meet Me in St Loius" was sold at the MGM auction in the early 1970s. I saw it close up and it was magnificent, white on white fully embroidered or crocheted grapes, top to bottom. There was a huge hat and parasol to match. It was incredibly made, must have weighed a ton and must have cost a fortune to make.

I think that dress appears on a background woman in "Gigi" when they go to Deauville. I think it's likely Minnelli would have remembered the gown, pulled it from the costume dept and used it again, not on a featured player but in the background.

Richard

[–] susieq19 18 years ago

Wow! You must have good eye sight and a good memory! Very interesting piece of trivia. Did you actually attend the 1970 auction where the dress was sold?

Kiss Prudence

[–] laxlon 18 years ago

I attended the previews where you look at all the items to be auctioned. I was in college and didn't have money to actually buy anything but it was fun to see 50 years of props and costumes. I guess they never threw anything away.

The sale was huge, covered all the MGM lots and several sound stages. There were magnificent chandeliers the size of rooms mounted on portable racks. I remember a wooden shed that contained about 10 plaster of paris copies of the hour glass from the "Wizard of Oz" (a prop that breaks on camera needed many replicas). And there were acres of furniture, some of it humble and some priceless antiques.

Quite an event!

[–] lroy77 13 years ago

Ladies-would you wear the costumes that the characters wore? My grandmother and great grandmother wore corsets of course and they WERE very uncomfortable. That's why they have fainting couches-women used to faint because they couldn't get enough oxygen because their corsets were too tight. It seems like vanity now but that's the way it was back then.

[–] 13 years ago

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